Frickin' Eh Movie News 1.20.10: Hectic Edition

Posted by Matthew Motiuk on 01.20.2010

Tim Burton taking on a Disney villain, new cast member for Mad Max, and more!

Way too much going on in the past week or two. I am still working full time and trying to balance full-time school, but with the added curveball of being forced out of my job to join the day shift in the near future, meaning soon I won't be able to work full-time or realistically afford to remain in my apartment. Which means I have been scrambling to find and solidify a deal on renting a house with some guys I work with. Needless to say, it's been a bit hectic, and the days I have been able to slow down for a moment, I seem to end up doing something anything. Now that that's all out of the way, let's jump into the news:


The Mid-Week Box Office Time Machine

Alright folks, last weekend yet again (I'm getting tired of saying that) saw Avatar in the top spot with another $54.6 million. The Book of Eli opened in second with $38 million, and The Lovely Bones opened in third with $20.5 million. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel fell a spot to fourth with $15 million. The Spy Next Door opened at fifth with $13 million. Sherlock Holmes fell from second to sixth and It's Complicated dropped from fifth to seventh. Leap Year fell from sixth to eighth, Up in the Air fell a spot to ninth, and The Blind Side rounded out the top ten, dropping from seventh and making $6.5 million.

This weekend, Extraordinary Measures opens, starring Harrison Ford, Brendan Fraser, and Keri Russell. This drama comes from CBS Films and looks pretty serious. Legion also opens, a supernatural action thriller starring Paul Bettany and Dennis Quaid. And the final opener of the weekend is The Tooth Fairy and Dwayne Johnson's continued steep downhill slide, this time accompanied by Ashley Judd. So take your pick.


Golden Globe Results

So the Golden Globes were on Sunday and if you care, the results are up, assuming you didn't actually watch them. Click here to look at the entire list. For those you okay with summary, here it is. Avatar took best drama and Cameron took best director. The Hangover was predictably the best comedy and Up was predictably the best animated film. Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart) and Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side) took best actor and actress in dramas, while Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia) and Robert Downey Jr. (Sherlock Holmes) were the best actress and actor in comedy/musical. Nothing too surprising, although I was mildly surprised that Avatar got the nod over The Hurt Locker - but I suppose this isn't the Oscars yet.


Raimi Focusing on Warcraftr?

Last July, Blizzard Entertainment and Legendary Pictures announced that Sam Raimi had signed on to direct a movie based on the award-winning Warcraft universe.

"At its core, 'Warcraft' is a fantastic, action-packed story. I am thrilled to work with such a dynamite production team to bring this project to the big screen," Raimi said then.

In October, Raimi also revealed that Saving Private Ryan and The Patriot screenwriter Robert Rodat was writing the script for Warcraft.

Raimi was expected to develop the game adaptation while he was shooting Spider-Man 4. Of course, last Monday Sony made the big announcement that the "Spider-Man" franchise was going to be rebooted in 2012, leaving fans wondering if he would turn his attention fully to the Warcraft movie instead.

iF Magazine got a chance to talk to Warcraft producer and Raimi's partner, Robert Tapert, who said the helmer hasn't made a decision yet.

"It's in development," Tapert said. "We're in the outline/story/script phase."

"I don't want to speak on Sam's behalf, because the 'Spider-Man' thing happened so recently," added Tapert. "I think he's getting his feet under him and trying to decide. He might want to do a teeny, tiny small film, but I don't know what he wants to do. I know he had a great time doing 'Drag Me to Hell.'"

Yes, this is in the non-news department for today, as it really says absolutely nothing and is simply speculation and accumulation of rumours, but a good thought for those interested. Presumably, with Spider-Man pulled out from under him, he won't have much else to do, so he might as well look to Warcraft. Personally don't care, as Raimi and Warcraft are two pretty low denominators in my books.


Bay Talks Briefly of Transformers

The Los Angeles Times reports that Transformers 3 director Michael Bay briefly spoke about the third installment at a discussion on sound in film:

So can we expect more thunderous sound in the third installment? Although the number of robots increased significantly from the first film for the second, the third film -- which will hit theaters in summer 2011, won't be as robot-heavy and there will be fewer explosions, a tight-lipped Bay said after the Q+A.

"There will be a nice crescendo ending," Bay said. "It gets much more into the robot character. The last time you kind of met a few of the robots; this time you're gonna get a much cooler landscape."

Transformers 3 hits theaters on July 1, 2011.

So there are going to be fewer robots . . . and fewer explosions . . . and this is still a Michael Bay movie? Hard to believe. Maybe this is Megan Fox's influence, to get a more respectable movie made. Okay, I'm going to shut up pretty soon. So this will presumably be a slower, more character-based movie instead of heaping explosions and CG on top of more CG and explosions, although the ending will still be a mass of metal and chaos. Meh. Never cared a whole lot for the movies and probably still won't after this one.


Teresa Palmer Getting on Fury Road?

The Herald Sun is reporting Jay Baruchel spilled the beans that Teresa Palmer is joining the cast of George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road.

Baruchel told reporters interviewing him for DreamWorks Animation's How to Train Your Dragon that Palmer, his co-star in The Sorcerer's Apprentice, will join Tom Hardy, who's playing the title character in the film.

"She gets to work with him, and she's (going to be) doing 'Mad Max 4' with Miller," Baruchel said, adding, "She's the main chick in 'Fury Road'. She's going to be there for over a year. It's really, really cool."

The "main chick" was believed to be Charlize Theron, who was confirmed to be starring in October. We're not sure if Baruchel was mistaken. It's possible that Theron is still the female lead and that Palmer will co-star.

Miller previously cast Palmer in the Justice League of America movie that was scrapped.

The last I heard, Theron was still involved, and I haven't seen anything to the contrary yet. Since she's a much higher profile actress than Palmer, I'm going to say Palmer will probably play a smaller female role, and Theron will be the main lead. Which will be a nice change of dynamic, since the Mad Max movies have never been very female-centred, besides Tina Turner running Thunderdome - and even her role was pretty small. We'll have to wait for some real confirmation, though, and not just hearsay.


3D Piranhas Will Have to Wait

UPDATE: We've confirmed that the new release date is indeed August 27th.

The Los Angeles Times reports that The Weinstein Company has pushed back the release date for Alexandre Aja's Piranha 3D from April 16 to sometime in August at the earliest. That month still has an open date with no releases on August 27th.

According to the newspaper, the studio is making the move to get it out of the way of Lionsgate's Kick-Ass, which appeals to the same young demographics.

Piranha 3D stars Elisabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Ving Rhames, Richard Dreyfuss, Jessica Szohr, Jerry O'Connell, Cody Longo and Ricardo Chavira.

For all of you who just can't wait to see piranhas rendered in glorious 3D, you'll just have to buckle down and wait. For those of you who don't care, well, you don't care. I am in the latter camp. Cool concept, hopefully good execution, but we'll have to wait and see, and that wait will be a little longer than anticipated.


Sinestro Might Be Cast for Green Lantern, Might Not Be Villain

While everyone is still buzzing from the excitement of Mark Strong possibly coming on board Martin Campbell's Green Lantern to play Sinestro as was reported yesterday, we just spoke with Mr. Campbell about his new thriller Edge of Darkness starring Mel Gibson--a pleasant and informative interview you'll be able to read in full very soon--and we did get in a couple questions about GL.

We mainly talked with Campbell about his interest in the project and the basis of the story, which is essentially Hal Jordan's origin, but when we asked whether there might be any hints or set-up for a future Justice League film, he instead told us the following:

"I think it will stick closely to the origin story, but we all know Sinestro, for an example, is a character who goes over to the dark side, and of course, Carol, played by Blake Lively, in later versions becomes a bad guy as well. I think people will be able to see forward to the characters that in the comic went on to (become bad guys)... but people will be ahead of us on all that I think."

Of course, there's a chance we're reading too much into that, but it seems pretty clear the movie will be introducing Sinestro when he was still a member of the Green Lantern Corps and a mentor to Hal Jordan during his early days as Green Lantern, rather than just having him show up as the main villain. Those readers only vaguely familiar with Green Lantern or Sinestro (or haven't been following the comics in the last four years) might not realize that very important aspect of the relationship between Hal and Sinestro, explored most recently in Geoff John's retelling of Hal's story in the "Secret Origin" series (collected into a hardcover we highly recommend that you can pick up fromAmazon). From Campbell's statement, it's clearly something that will be explored in the movie as well.

Those who are only familiar with Strong's work in Sherlock Holmes might not realize how good he is at playing layered villains, something more evident from his roles in Ridley Scott's Body of Lies and Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla, so it should be interesting to see him playing a mentor to Ryan Reynolds, even if it's more of a military relationship, almost like an officer to a private.

We'll run the rest of what Campbell said about Green Lantern with our full interview for Edge of Darkness, which opens on January 29.

First off, Mark Strong is an excellent choice for Sinestro. He is an amazing actor that I'm just now getting an appreciation for, and as the article says, he plays a multi-layered character (usually villain) very well. Secondly, I always like when villains are involved early in a movie or series before they are villains. I loved the beginnings of Two-Face in The Dark Knight and almost wished they'd held off and let the villain appear only in the next movie. This makes this movie even more exciting for me, and hopefully it all works out.


Tim Burton Adapting A Villainous Disney Tale?

Ain't It Cool News is reporting that Alice in Wonderland director Tim Burton might be adapting another classic tale soon, but this time from the point of view of the villain.

The site says that Burton is interested in making a live action feature based on Maleficent from Disney's 1959 adaptation of the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. Burton's Dark Shadows is "stumbling," according to AICN, so Maleficent could possibly be his next project.

Burton has a knack for taking a different angle on stories and producing something fascinating, so I think this will be a good choice, especially if he crafts it similarly to Alice in Wonderland. While we haven't seen the movie yet, just the trailers leave me excited and with a good sense of the scope that Burton took in regards to the world of Wonderland. If he can direct that same energy at a villain, particularly one from a well-known tale, then I think that would definitely be something to see.


Saw VI Director Taking Over Paranormal Activity

Heat Vision is reporting that Saw VI director Kevin Greutert will helm a sequel to Oren Peli's Paranormal Activity for Paramount Pictures. Michael R. Perry is penning the script.

Made for about $15,000, Paranormal Activity became a box office sensation as it earned $151 million worldwide.

Paramount is looking to release Paranormal Activity 2 on October 22, which puts it up against Saw VII 3D. The Greutert-directed sixth "Saw" wasn't able to beat "Paranormal" its opening weekend, making $14.1 million compared to "Paranormal's" $21.1 million that same weekend last October. Summit's graphic novel adaptation Red is also scheduled to open on Oct. 22.

Jason Blum and Oren Peli, are producing the second iteration. Steven Schneider will serve as executive producer.

"These guys get it, and the fans won't be disappointed," said Peli of Perry and Greutert's participation.

This is strange, to me. Paranormal Activity was Peli's break, bringing him up to stardom, and he isn't going to direct the sequel? I would have expected him to remain in control of his own franchise. And while he's still producing, it's just not quite the same. Greutert's Saw VI obviously didn't do that well and he doesn't exactly have anything else under his belt for directorial chops, so besides the obvious hope for revenge, I'm not sure why any of these choices are being made. But luckily, you won't have to wait all that long to find out whether they were the right choices or not.


Ronald Harwood Penning Martin Luther King, Jr. Biopic

DreamWorks Studios has hired Oscar-winning playwright and screenwriter Ronald Harwood (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Pianist) to write the Martin Luther King, Jr. biopic, reports Risky Business.

King, who was assassinated in 1968 in Memphis at the age of 39, copyrighted his speeches, books and famous works during his lifetime. The DreamWorks project marks the first film to be authorized by King's estate and gives the producers the right to utilize King's intellectual property -- including his famous "I Have a Dream" speech delivered during the 1963 March on Washington -- to create the definitive portrait of his life.

"His record of achievements makes him particularly suited to portraying this deeply personal story against the background of such a turbulent time," said Mark Sourian and Holly Bario, who run production at the studio.

Steven Spielberg is producing along with Suzanne de Passe and Madison Jones.

Well, they certainly chose a talented enough writer to put this piece together, and with the vast property they have at their disposal now, they should be able to craft a truly remarkable film on the life of a truly remarkable man. I'm learning about racism in the States, particularly right after the Civil War, right now, and this news fits nicely with that. This could be a contender for a hit when it is finished.


Agent Coulson Crossing to Thor

Variety reports that Clark Gregg, who plays Agent Coulson in Iron Man and the upcoming Iron Man 2, will reprise his role for Thor as well.

Coulson is an agent of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division (S.H.I.E.L.D). In the Marvel Studios films, Samuel L. Jackson plays S.H.I.E.L.D director Nick Fury, who will make multiple appearances as well.

Iron Man 2 hits theaters on May 7 and Thor is now filming for a May 6, 2011 release.

The Kenneth Branagh-directed adaptation stars Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Rene Russo, Ray Stevenson, Tadanobu Asano, Josh Dallas, Jaimie Alexander, Idris Elba, Colm Feore, Kat Dennings, Stellan Skarsgard and Adriana Barraza.

I really like the attempts by Marvel right now to draw their new properties together, and while it's obviously setting up for their own future projects, it's really cool to see it in the early stages, and will be impressive to see after the movies all come together, too. And of course it's nice to see the original actor return to the role. The new Marvel direction is really creating the feel of a Marvel universe that was missing from the movies but presumably present in the comics. Hopefully it all pays off in the end.


Rapid-Fire: Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (2009, starring Jesse Metcalfe, Amber Tamblyn, Michael Douglas)

My mother fell in love with this movie and insisted I watched it, so I threw it in the other day and gave it a whirl. I realized afterwards this is also a remake. So this week I present:

This is a thriller in which a desperate reporter decides to break the story of his life, that the District Attorney is falsifying evidence to get convictions. To prove it, he sets himself up on circumstantial evidence alone and waits to break the news that he trapped the DA when the nonexistent DNA evidence appears. Of course it all goes haywire and that's when the movie picks up.

As far as the twist and the story goes, it's a pretty good story and a cool concept for a movie. The setting up is quite detailed, as is his relationship with a lawyer under the DA, Ella Crystal (played by Tamblyn). Unfortunately, this leads the start to be kind of slow. When things start getting interesting is the first predictable twist, and then it all races from there to a satisfying ending. The problem is a final twist that doesn't feel so much tacked on, as just slightly out of place. As if more attention should have been given to the ending instead of the rushed, "eureka!" realization that it was. That said, it was definitely a surprise and a decent twist, but something felt wrong with it.

As far as the acting goes, the cast is largely marginal actors. Metcalfe takes the lead and does serviceably but never really takes control of the movie with a charismatic or fantastic runaway role. Not that there was anything wrong, really, it was just nothing inspiring. Tamblyn in the female role takes on an almost detective role in the end, and it's great to see her take over the movie in the latter half. Again, nothing spectacular to rave about here, but she handles the main role better than Metcalfe, in my opinion. Michael Douglas as Mark Hunter is pretty good, but has a pretty small role. It's a thoroughly evil and obnoxious role, and he does well at creating a character that you hate by the end of the movie. Joel Moore as Corey Finley has a pretty lean role but is enjoyable while he's around. The only other notable role, in my opinion, is Orlando Jones, in the role of Ben Nickerson. He is a good mix of loyalty to the law but also understanding justice, the cop that comes to the rescue because of his good sense, and while his role isn't large by any means, he really turns any scene he's in into an enjoyable one.

I'd compare this movie to Fracture. It's a good legal thriller with a couple good twists, but unfortunately, this one has little to set itself apart from the pack. It's definitely worth a watch, and I'm interested to one day check out the original to see how it compares, but it's not a keeper for me.


Closing Time . . .

I finally acquired the first season of Better Off Ted this past weekend on DVD, and while it's a slim set with no special features, it's nice to have such a good show on DVD. Unfortunately, due to how short the season was, I'm almost done. I also got two sets of James Bond Blu-rays, and while I've never been big into Blu-ray because I just don't care that much about how nice it looks, I'm hoping some of the older ones look crisper, and the extra special features are nice. I will definitely be watching Live and Let Die the first chance I get. So until next week . . .


[All news, images, and other stuff from www.comingsoon.net, www.imdb.com, www.rottentomatoes.com and www.youtube.com.]